Manpasand setting up Rs 150-cr manufacturing plant in Odisha

The beleaguered Manpasand Beverages is setting up a fruit juice manufacturing facility at Chhatabar Industrial Area, Khurdha in Odisha, at an investment of Rs 150 crore, a top executive said today.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik performed ground breaking ceremony for the plant yesterday.

"The new plants is a part of company's expansion plans which are on at full swing. This would be our ninth facility in the country, and will have a capacity of 50,000 cases per day," company's chairman and managing director Dhirendra Singh said, adding this plant will be the company's first facility in the eastern region.

Of the four new plants being set up at an investment of Rs 600 crore, the first at Vadodara has already been commissioned, while the second one at Varanasi is expected to be functional soon, he said, adding, the construction work at the third plant is on at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh.

He said the company has built a robust network of dealers and is well equipped to cater to the rising demand in the eastern market.

With regard to the ongoing issue of the company's auditor Deloitte's resignation and its negative impact on the firm's share price, Singh said that the issue is not as serious as is it made out to be.

Auditing major Deloitte Haskins & Sells resigned as statutory auditors of Manpasand Beverages this week as the fruit juice maker failed to provide them with "significant information" on the financial results for FY18.

"The company's ongoing business as well as expansion plans are going on at full swing," he said.

Singh said that the meeting of the board of directors of the company will be heldby June 15.